In my travels – around the world of purchasing SharePoint –
I’ve had a variety of experiences. Typically – my experience has been I’m sent
a very complicated spreadsheet from a re-seller or directly from Microsoft. I’m
then based on the numbers in the spreadsheet – trying to negotiate the best
price per seat as well as per server license. Since a large majority of my
experience is based with on premise I’m keen to the fact that every user that
attaches or will possibly attach to SharePoint needs a license.
Now, if I’m running a standard edition only – typically this
is easier because all the users will need a license. Now, if I’m running an enterprise
edition – it’s a bit more complicated because not only do all users need a
standard license but they will also need an enterprise user license as well.
This in my view is a complicated aspect that many don’t realize.
I will say however that the model has gotten easier as
Microsoft now provides an enterprise framework, however even though this
appears to be marketed for the cloud based organization, it can be utilized for
on premise and cloud. Example if one purchases 100 user licenses under what is
known as an E3 (Enterprise 3) license those licenses can be utilized for either
on premise or in the cloud. This makes getting users the needed tools quicker
and easier.
In regard to cloud, those who rely on a capital vs. expense
budget are in luck. Under newly established accounting principles cloud based
can be capitalized if one can make changes to the software/system and also if
the service can be controlled from an on premise point. Therefore, if one is in
an hybrid situation where SharePoint is installed on premise and OneDrive for
Business is in the cloud – the case can be made that the cloud standard are met
and can capitalize expenditures instead of using an expense.
Historically, a vast majority of the SharePoint work I’ve
done is expense (training, user licenses, service agreements and support and enhancements)
while I’ve capitalized the following -> server licenses, virtual machine
licenses, virtual machine racks, and software licenses.
Every organization may think differently on this front but
in my view it’s an important one to think about to account for as it’s not
always about what SharePoint can do, but how to get it!
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